For various purposes, for example, in order to close such a hole as a light transmissible hole provided to a cassette shell to detect the tape end when a tape cassette is unused, or in order to hold another member, a slider which is freely slidable in the forward and backward directions relatively to a cassette shell is often provided to a tape cassette including a cassette shell in which a tape reel having a tape-shaped recording medium wound therearound is accommodated.
The applicant of this application has owned the following three U.S. patents pertaining to this application:
1. U.S. Pat. No. 5,322,237 titled xe2x80x9cLid ASSEMBLY FOR A TAPE CASSETTE WHICH PROTECTS FRONT AND REAR SURFACES OF A MAGNETIC TAPExe2x80x9d;
2. U.S. Pat. No. 5,412,525 titled xe2x80x9cTAPE CASSETTE HAVING A ROCKABLE FINGER FOR LATCHING A SLIDABLE SHUTTERxe2x80x9d; AND
3. U.S. Pat. No. 5,502,608 titled xe2x80x9cTAPE CASSETTE HAVING A CASE WITH A MOUTH FOR MAGNETIC HEAD DRUM OF A RECORDING/REPRODUCING APPARATUSxe2x80x9d.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to facilitate the fabrication work for a cassette shell and a slider in a tape cassette having a slider as described above.
In order to attain the above object, according to a tape cassette of the present invention, a cassette shell comprises an upper shell constituting substantially the upper side portion of the cassette shell and a lower shell constituting substantially the lower side portion of the cassette shell, after the upper shell and the slider are coupled to each other, the lower shell and the upper shell are butted against each other from the upper and lower sides and temporarily coupled to each other through the slider by moving the slider, and then the upper shell and the lower shell are really coupled to each other.
Therefore, according to the tape cassette of the present invention, if desired parts are beforehand installed in each of the upper and lower shells, the fabrication of the tape cassette can be very easily performed because the upper shell and the lower shell can be temporarily coupled to each other through the slider.
Further, in order to attain the above object, a method of fabricating a tape cassette having a cassette shell comprising an upper shell constituting substantially the upper side portion of the cassette shell and a lower shell constituting substantially the lower side portion of the cassette shell is characterized by comprising: a step of coupling the upper shell and the slider; butting the lower shell and the upper shell against each other; moving the slider to temporarily couple the upper shell and the lower shell through the sider; and then really coupling the upper shell and the lower shell.
According to the fabrication method of the tape cassette of the present invention, if desired parts are beforehand installed in each of the upper and lower shells, the fabrication of the tape cassette can be very easily performed because the upper shell and the lower shell can be temporarily coupled to each other through the slider.